World number 46 and clay court specialist David Ferrer beat Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-4 6-4 to claim his third Skistar Swedish Open.
Both players survived early tests in the first game as they saved a combined five break points in their opening service games. Ferrer aimed to tire out the Ukrainian’s power game on the clay and test him physically as Dolgopolov was suffering with a leg injury. Both men looked strong on serve as it was defence versus attack, with the world number 89 trying to catch Ferrer out with his backhands that fizzed off the clay courts of Sweden.
From service game three to service game eight only six points were dropped on serve by the two competitors in a brilliant display of clay court tennis. However Ferrer’s experience came into play as he took his opportunity in the ninth game and broke Dolgopolov to 15 by manoeuvring the Ukrainian around the court. He took the first set 6-4 in 43 minutes.
The second set was domination from Ferrer as he broke twice in quick succession draining out enforced errors from Dolgopolov as the match was slipping away from the Ukranian. Ferrer stormed into a convincing 5-1 lead and seemingly on his way to the title in Bastad. Dolgopolov would still show fight and saved three championship points to bring the set back to 4-5. However on the 7th championship Ferrer sealed the title with a backhand unforced error from the Ukrainian. The win meant it was the Spaniard’s 27th career title and as you can see below he was delighted with his win:
https://twitter.com/doublefault28/status/889117516533989377
After the match Ferrer said the following about his victory, ‘Two years ago without a title, so very special moment as it is my third title in Bastad. I am really really happy.’ The win signifies Ferrer’s first title of the season which will be a delight to the Spaniard as it has been a disappointing season. It also means Ferrer has levelled with Bjorn Borg and Mats Wilander on three Skistar Swedish Open’s and could move as high as number 33 in the world when the rankings are released on Monday.
